UPDATED: Hopkinton High lacrosse coach Doug Maynard dies

By NANCY BEAN FOSTERUnion Leader CorrespondentNovember 06. 2013 6:23PMHOPKINTON— Staff, students and players were shocked this weekend to learn that Doug Maynard, one of the founders of the high school’s lacrosse program and coach for the boys’ varsity team, passed away on Friday.

“It was a complete surprise. It came out of the blue,” said Hopkinton High School Athletic Director Dan Meserve. “I was asked about him Saturday morning while I was at a game and started calling around and found out it was true. He is going to be missed.”

According to his obituary, Maynard, 65, died at the home he shared with his wife Lorrie in Dunbarton on Friday. Maynard, who grew up in New York and Connecticut, was the owner of Investment & Tax Strategies in Contoocook and was interested in history, travel, and spending time with his wife and his dog.

Lacrosse had been part of his life for decades. Maynard played the sport at Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.), where he was named First Team All-American in 1970 and served as an assistant coach at Yale University (New Haven, Conn.).

About eight years ago, Maynard and a group of local parents and lacrosse enthusiasts helped introduce the sport to Hopkinton High School, Meserve said.

“Doug was one of the founding fathers,” said Meserve. “He really pushed to get Hopkinton on the map for lacrosse.”

For the past five years, Maynard coached the boys’ varsity lacrosse team, leading the Hawks to the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division III state title in 2011 and earning the 2013 Division III boys’ lacrosse Coach of the Year award.

“He was a nice guy and a good coach who stressed sportsmanship over everything else,” said Meserve. “His players saw that and his peers saw it, too.”

Though the lacrosse season is over, eight of the players on Maynard’s lacrosse team are on the boys’ soccer team and are in the midst of the playoff season.

“They were shocked and saddened,” Meserve said, “but they decided to channel those feelings toward soccer. That’s what Doug would have wanted.”

At Saturday’s girls’ soccer game, and again at the boys’ game on Sunday, moments of silence were observed in memory of Maynard. On Monday, according to a written statement from high school principal Chris Kelley, the school had guidance counselors and staff on hand to meet with students who needed support.

Superintendent Steven Chamberlin said Kelley and the staff were also able to identify the students who had the closest relationships with Maynard and were able to offer them a hand, and many kids turned to their peers as well.

“They offered an awful lot of support to each other,” said Chamberlin.

Visiting hours for Maynard will be held on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Waters Funeral Home, 50 South Main Street in Concord. The funeral will be private.

Maynard’s family is asking that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Dunbarton Fire Department, 18 Robert Rogers Road, Dunbarton, NH 03046 or the Hopkinton High School Boys Lacrosse Program, Hopkinton High School, 297 Park Avenue, Contoocook, NH 03229.